


Still Angry

by Poppelganger



Series: To Us, 2000 Years Later [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Levi's Last Name (Shingeki no Kyojin), M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 21:55:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3585420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poppelganger/pseuds/Poppelganger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin Smith is doing just fine until he meets Levi again for the first time in two thousand years.</p><p>As his student.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Angry

**Author's Note:**

> Help me I'm in hell.
> 
> Eruri hell.
> 
> And there is no way out.
> 
> This is my first time writing something like this sorryyyyyyyyyyyyy.
> 
> Also I don't know if Levi's last name spoiler is still a thing but I tagged just in case.

Two thousand years later, things are going pretty well for Erwin.

Familiar faces pass through his life from time to time.  Sometimes, they stop to talk—a couple millennia mean nothing to Hange, who apparently remembers the last conversation they had back then and picks up literally where they left off.  More often than not, though, Erwin meets people who either don’t remember or are perfectly fine with just the bits and pieces they do, preferring to steer clear of their former allies, and sometimes enemies. 

He can respect that.  Now and then, he’ll have a dream about something he isn’t too proud of, more blood spilled than he ever wants to see again.  One time, Mike spotted him from across a bookstore and stared at his face for almost five minutes before he finally realized where he knew him from, came over and clapped a hand down on his shoulder and then left without a word.  Erwin didn’t run after him even though it might’ve been the last time they’d ever run into each other, because sometimes it’s better to leave things the way they are and sever the ties from lifetimes ago.  He heard through the grapevine that Eren and Armin managed to find track of one another but they have a hard time talking now that they’re different people and have nothing in common.

That being said, there are many good things that came out of being born again in a world vastly different from what he remembers.  There are opportunities he didn’t have before, roads not taken that he’s going down this time around.  There are people he misses, but even more that he meets every day, new relationships that aren’t influenced by feelings several centuries old.  Erwin considers himself the least sentimental out of all of the reborn soldiers and monsters, and he likes to think he’s handled the transition the best.

And then, he meets Levi for the first time in two thousand years.

He looks almost exactly the same.  Reiner’s shaved his head, Sasha wears colored contacts, and Ymir has all manner of tattoos, but Levi looks so much like the young man in Erwin’s dreams, eyes narrow and the color of cold steel under a thin sheet of ice, hair styled in the same dark undercut, short enough that Erwin has to look down to meet his eyes.  Like most everyone else, his name is the same as it was then, and Erwin looks up from his desk, holding Levi’s prolonged eye contact, the awkward _“have we met before and does that sound weird?”_ kind they’ve all had, and tries to remember how to talk.

He clears his throat.  “Please,” he says, “Introduce yourself to the class.”

Levi glares up at him with a look that immediately sends Erwin spiraling back into the past, back to difficult decisions made on the battlefield and Levi's skeptical glance, and if looks could kill, they would’ve had to send him back to the capital in a body bag several times.

“Levi Ackerman,” he tells the class even though he’s still glaring at Erwin. 

Fate, Hange would probably tell him right about now, has brought them back together.

Which is great and all, but Erwin is rather cross with fate for having the audacity to put so many years between them, and for it to make Erwin Levi’s twelfth-grade teacher.

*

Levi doesn’t have his memories back yet, but he’s probably having dreams.

Erwin can tell by the heated stares he gets during homeroom and the half-hour period of time he spends teaching history.  The rest of the class is dutifully taking notes or answering questions, and Levi is just staring unabashedly, eyes fixed on Erwin at all times.  Occasionally, Erwin will call on him to answer a question just to throw him off, but he finds that Levi is also paying attention in class, and not once does he break eye contact.

He’s gotten that look before, usually when he’s meeting someone new for the first time but not really, and they go to shake hands and their eyes meet.  There’s always this long silence that follows and Erwin imagines that passersby are thinking he’s having a stroke or something, but it’s like something just clicks in the back of his head, something falls into place and the face that seemed blurred in the dream becomes crystal clear.

Levi is in the first stage, the part that comes before the recognition, but he sees Erwin on a daily basis and doesn’t have the tact to look away from time to time or at least pretend to do something else.

But the staring isn’t really all that big of a deal.  Really, Erwin got used to it after the first week, and now it’s just a minor detail of his class that he’d feel strange without.  If that were the only thing happening, he’d be doing great.

But Levi isn’t just staring.

At the end of the day, the entire class stampedes out the door, hormonal teenagers eager to go do hormonal teenager things, and Erwin goes to his office to grade papers and check his e-mail.  And it’s so regular, so meticulous and so very _Levi_ that he can actually count down to the second how long until his work is interrupted.  He sits down at his desk, turns on the computer monitor, and watches the clock.  One minute and forty-three seconds later, like clockwork, there’s a knock at his office door.

“Come in,” he calls without looking up, because he already knows who it is.  He hears the door open and shut, and somebody sits down in the cushioned chair across from his desk.

“It’s Friday,” Levi says, eyes burning holes into Erwin, “Have anything going on this weekend, Erwin?”

Erwin had tried time and time again to get Levi to call him Mr. Smith.  Then, out of the blue, Levi told him, “It doesn’t feel right,” looking away with just the faintest hint of pink dusting his cheeks in embarrassment, and Erwin can't bring himself to mention it again.

“Nothing in particular,” Erwin says, “What about you, Levi?”

Erwin recognizes his mistake the moment the words leave his mouth from the way Levi licks his lips.  “Yeah,” he says in that husky, sex-starved tone Erwin hears in his sleep, “I’m thinking I’m going to spend some of it in your bed.”

Subtlety has never been one of Levi’s strong suits.  Erwin still doesn’t look away from the computer.  “I’m fairly certain we’ve talked about this before, and why that isn’t a good idea.”

“Avoiding a scandal or whatever bullshit you said,” Levi rolls his eyes, “Whatever.  That didn’t stop you the first time.”

“It isn’t going to stop me, period,” Erwin says, suffering from a deficit in shame, “But I know I told you that I don’t want you approaching me about these sorts of things at school.”

Erwin isn’t perfect.  He wasn’t back when humans lived inside Walls, and he isn’t now.  He hasn’t seen Levi for what feels like, and has actually been, a very long time, so when Levi walked back into his life, pushed all of the papers off of Erwin’s desk so he could slide across it and put himself in Erwin’s lap, adhering to the appropriate social codes of the modern age was not the first thing on his mind.

This is problematic, and not just in the obvious, screwing-your-student-on-the-weekends kind of way.  It’s also problematic because Levi doesn’t remember everything, he just gets this strange feeling in his stomach when he looks at Erwin, something between wanting to cry and wanting to get into his pants, and it’s all residual, all fragments of feelings from two thousand years ago that are clouding his judgment and making him feel things for somebody he knows next to nothing about.  Erwin knows he’s taking advantage of him, knows that he should tell Levi no, let him make new memories and fall in love with somebody else.

But Erwin is also selfish, and he’s made peace with that.  As long as Levi keeps throwing himself at him, he isn’t going to turn him down.

“When are you going to be done?” Levi practically whines.

Erwin glances at him only briefly.  “Soon, if you stop bothering me.”

Levi falls silent, but the next thing Erwin knows, the chair across from him is empty, and his legs are being forced open as a hand flies to the zipper of his trousers.  Erwin’s eyes flick to the office door, which is shut but not locked, and then back down to Levi, who’s leering up at him as though waiting to be told to stop. 

Erwin says nothing and goes back to work, at least until Levi takes his cock in his mouth.

*

Erwin calls Armin for help from time to time.

It seems strange to be the same age as the once petite tactician, and stranger still to be confiding in the other man about his sexual encounters, but there aren’t very many people he’s close to anymore who know about the past and will tell him something other than just what he wants to hear. 

“You shouldn’t be sleeping with him, Erwin.  He’s in high school.  He’s _your student_.”

“Truly, Armin, you are my voice of reason,” Erwin says, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he pours a cup of coffee, “I don’t know why I keep doing the opposite of what you say, I really don’t.”  He takes a long sip. 

“It doesn’t matter what I tell you, you’re going to do what you want.”  Armin sighs on the other end of the line.  “At least be discreet about it.  You haven’t been giving him preferential treatment in class, have you?  Erasing wrong answers on tests?”

“Of course not.”

“Ah, I forgot, you do have some experience with relationships involving wildly out of balance power dynamics.”

The words sting a bit, but Erwin knows he’s right.  He had been involved with Levi when they were the commander and the corporal, but even before then, when Levi was fresh out of the underground district and still waiting for the chance to stab Erwin in his sleep, they had something between them then, too, albeit something with a lot less emotion tied to it.  But they had been fighting a losing war with the survival of mankind on the line; spoiling Levi simply wasn’t an option.

“His parents are deadbeats, you know,” he says absently, “They spend every dime they get on expensive prescription drugs and they act lobotomized every time I see them at conferences.  His shoes have holes in the bottom and he can’t afford books for class, but they have enough money for their own medication.  It baffles me.”

“Erwin,” Armin says tiredly, “You shouldn’t be doing this.  At least not until he remembers.”

“I know that.”  Erwin leans against his kitchen counter and stares into the murky surface of his coffee, thinking of rain and mud and sacrifice, of falling off of his horse and fighting for his life, more than once.  “It’s just taking so long.”

“Sometimes it does,” Armin says, “Sometimes, they just don’t want to remember.  If Levi decides he’d rather live a life completely removed from his previous one, you need to respect his decision.”

“I will,” Erwin says, but his heart aches as he says it, imagining Levi graduating, walking across the stage in his cap and gown and looking so _wrong_ without the Wings of Freedom on his back, without the imprints that years of 3DM gear usage leave on the skin, without looking back at Erwin even once as he goes on with his life.

Erwin has heard that if you love someone, you let them go.

He doesn’t agree.

*

Fucking Levi is the same as it’s always been.

They’re barely in the door when Levi fists his hands in the collar of Erwin’s shirt, threatening to rip the buttons right off as he yanks him down to his level to crush their mouths together.  Levi kisses like he does everything else—angrily, viciously, like it’s a fight, like he’s trying to prove something.  He leaves red marks all along Erwin’s collar and wraps his legs around his waist, and by the time they get to the bedroom, they’re both panting and red-faced and can’t get out of their clothes fast enough.

Levi is stubborn and dislikes making any noise at all, so Erwin has to pull his hair and tease his nipples into hardness, leaning down to swirl his tongue around one until Levi’s back is arching off the bed and he’s keening for Erwin to _fucking do something, you old bastard, stop fucking around._ He’s so sensitive to Erwin’s every touch, eyelashes fluttering when Erwin so much as runs his hand down his arm.

Levi always complains when Erwin brings everything to a screeching halt to apply some lube and stretch him out, but he forgets about being disappointed as soon as Erwin’s up to three fingers, fisting the sheets and biting his lip hard enough to draw blood.  Erwin presses inside one slow inch at a time until their pelvises are flush against each other.  Without thinking, he pins Levi’s wrists over his head, because that’s how they would do it before, that was how Levi liked it, and then he realizes what’s happened when Levi suddenly freezes up under him.

He lets his wrists go but Levi doesn’t move his arms.  His face is red and he won’t meet Erwin’s gaze.  Erwin swallows, anxious, eager.  “You like being held down?” he murmurs, watching the tips of Levi’s ears turn pink as he turns away in embarrassment.  “Levi,” he says, hand on his chin to force him to meet his eyes, “Do you want me to hold you down?”

“Yes,” Levi says, voice little more than a timid whisper.

For a moment, Erwin forgets where and when he is.  Levi is under him, with him, panting his name in his ear and meeting his thrusts, and Erwin can’t tell the difference between thousands of years ago and the present.  The soft lighting, the silk sheets, Levi’s voice begging him to keep going is all it takes to muddle his thoughts and cause him to confuse the past and the present, but in a way that makes his heart stop aching.

He is the least sentimental, the most level headed, the best adjusted. 

It’s all a lie, and he knows it.

Levi comes shuddering and screaming, and Erwin tells him he loves him.

Levi gives him a confused look, as if unsure of what love has to do with any of this.

All at once, he comes crashing back to the present, and he feels empty.

*

Levi is having the dreams.

Erwin is sure of it.

He’s woken in the middle of the night by Levi whimpering and clawing at the sheets in a fight for his life against enemies long dead.  Erwin embraces him and tucks his head against his shoulder, and his shuddering subsides.  Levi’s arms find Erwin and wrap around him, holding onto him like a life preserver.

“Erwin,” he mutters, very clearly, “Don’t…don’t die before me.”

Erwin closes his eyes and feels Levi’s heartbeat reverberating through him.  He doesn’t let go the entire night.

*

He lets Levi choose where they go for their next “dinner date,” which is really just the name they give the cheap meals Erwin has started paying for ever since the time Levi almost passed out in class, letting slip that he hadn’t eaten in three days.  He picks a diner not far from the school.  It’s eleven at night and they’re not likely to see anyone they know, but he still thinks it’s a bold move and tells him as much.

“Aren’t you worried?” he asks, “If one of your classmates sees you, you’ll never hear the end of it.”

Levi shrugs.  “I really don’t give a shit,” he says, peering over his shake at Erwin with half-lidded eyes, “What, are _you_ worried?  Scared someone’ll see you and call the cops, Erwin?”

“Not particularly.”

Levi makes a noise in his throat like he doesn’t believe him.  “Why do you let me do that?” he asks suddenly, tone no less harsh than usual despite his eyes softening just a bit in curiosity.  “Call you by your first name, I mean.”

“I tried correcting you, but you didn’t listen.”

“That’s not why.”

Erwin smiles.  “Why do you think, then, Levi?”

“Don’t fucking patronize me.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Then don’t sound like it.”  Levi leans back in the booth.  “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Erwin repeats slowly, “You can’t think of any possible reason at all?”

“I’m not fucking stupid.  I just can’t think of anything that seems plausible.”

Erwin sets aside his cold plate of fries.  “Give me your best guess.”

Levi meets his eyes almost timidly.  “I dunno.  That you like me, or some shit.”

“Or some shit,” Erwin tilts his head thoughtfully, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Shut up.”

“I wasn’t making fun of you.”

The waitress comes by with the bill, smiling and apparently under the impression that they’re father and son attempting some bonding.  “Why is that so implausible?” Erwin asks, fishing through his wallet for the right amount.

“Fuck, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know, or you don’t want to talk about it?”

Levi doesn’t look at him.

Erwin sighs.  “Let me give you a ride home.”

“No thanks,” Levi says, sliding out of the booth, “I’ll walk.”

“Levi,” he reaches out and grabs him by the forearm, and Levi actually stops to listen, looking back in a way that seems hopeful.  Erwin looks into those gray eyes and gets lost for a minute.  “Let me drive you.  Please.”

He shrugs.  “Whatever,” he says, but he sounds pleased that Erwin cared enough to stop him.  Cared at all.

Erwin will indulge him as many times as it takes until he realizes that it’s completely plausible for feelings other than lust to have entered their arrangement.  Completely plausible, completely possible, and maybe even true.

*

Levi skips out on their next date, and then skips class the next day.

Erwin digs through the mountain of paperwork on his desk and starts calling numbers, trying to see if anyone knows where he is.  His useless father hasn’t seen him— _come to think of it,_ he says, and Erwin actually hangs up on the man, he’s so angry.

He goes home and finds Levi waiting for him on his doorstep, tapping his foot impatiently, apparently not willing to provide an explanation.  When Erwin unlocks the door, he waltzes right in like he owns the place and stands in the middle of his living room with his arms crossed over his chest.  Erwin sets his bag down and starts loosening his tie, waiting for an explanation, but when he looks at Levi again, he sees not the usual anger, but absolute _fury_ , not unlike their first meeting two thousand years ago.

“You _knew_ ,” Levi hisses, and Erwin’s heart skips a beat.  “You knew this entire time, didn’t you?”

“Knew what?” he asks, feigning ignorance.  Levi doesn’t take the bait, though; he stays on the other side of the room, nails digging into his arms. 

“Don’t bullshit me,” he snaps, “You know what I’m talking about.  You thought you’d just keep it all a secret?  Huh?  You just pretended we were meeting for the first time, let me act like a complete idiot; I can’t believe you, you fucking piece of—!”

“What was I supposed to do?” Erwin interrupts, “Tell you I’m your long lost lover from a past life?  Except that to go over well?”  He doesn’t answer.  “I did the best I could, Levi,” he says, gentler, “And even that wasn’t easy.”

“I’m still angry at you,” he says stubbornly.

Erwin’s lips quirk up into a smile.  “Well, of course,” he says, “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

“Fuck off.”

“Is that any way to talk to your commander?”

“You’re not my commander anymore,” Levi says heatedly, “You’re my teacher, and that’s only until graduation.  Then we’re equals.”

Erwin pauses to think it over.  “I guess we will be,” he says with a smile, “In the meantime, how can I make you not mad at me anymore?”

The answer he receives is to be expected.  Levi unbuttons his pants and drops them right there, revealing that he did not wear anything underneath.  “You can get over here,” he says lowly, “And fuck me like you mean it.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be back with another AU next week probably.
> 
> Sorry I'm moving into the fandom you can't get rid of me now.


End file.
